Page 20 - History 2020

be adopted by women artists for whom, unlike men, disorderly conduct or a

dishevelled appearance endangered respectability and professional activity' (Cherry,
Painting Women).
Professional activity was a limited sphere for women throughout the 19th century.
They were excluded from membership of professional organisations such as the
Royal Academy and the privileges it brought with it. Victorian standards dictated that
women could not boast the same revolutionary attitudes as the male students
although they still were inspired by their artistic ideals.

Elizabeth Siddal was the model for many of the Pre-Raphaelite paintings. However,
she was also an accomplished artist in her own right although this has often been
overlooked. She did not have enough money for a formal art education but she was
married to Rossetti and learned from him. There is a haunting Self-portrait painted in
1853 (private collection) which is just a 9 inch circle. Her work displays an almost
child-like quality with primitive anatomy and yet it is very emotional.

Fanny Cornforth was also a model. It was rumoured that she was a low-life prostitute
although that was not true. She came from Sussex and wanted to be a figure in
London life so she moved, changed her name and created her own persona. She also
created the imagery for some of the paintings by dressing herself for the pictures.
This demonstrates the collaboration between female sitter and male artist and the
influence they had. It would seem that these women, and others, chose to be
identified with the group and it was not a case of male exploitation.

Conclusion
Pre-Raphaelitism originated in a rejection of the Royal Academy and the academic
tradition traceable back to the High Renaissance. Hence identification with earlier art
of the period before Raphael. Pre-Raphaelite art sought a truth to nature in contrast
to classicising idealisations of the Academy. Although technically radical they still
concentrated on traditional religious and literary subjects, albeit with a moralizing

message for the materialistic bourgeois culture they inhabited. Within a few years
from 1848 onwards they had defied convention by applying a new realism to
religious subjects, taken landscape in a new direction by applying scientific details
and shocked the public by taking controversial subjects as the centrepiece of the
canvas. However, by 1860 they were ready to embrace fame and fortune with art
designed to please the masses. They were crucial to Victorian entrepreneurs who
saw the mass market potential of art. Although they looked back to the past their
work was modern in the times in which they were produced